Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • All the Ways Your Mum will Be There for You – Sarah Ayoub. Kate Moon.

    Harper Collins Well, isn’t this just like picking up a delicious iced donut! Look at those gorgeous colours on the cover art – and shininess as well! And that’s exactly the right sweet vibe for this cute rhyming book that explores all the things mothers do for their offspring. From picnics to roadtrips, reading to…

  • My Mum is the Best – Nic McPickle. Tommy Doyle

    Allen & Unwin Imprint: Albert St Books March 2025 ISBN:9781761181160 RRP: $19.99 This one is a truckload of fun for a Mother’s Day read (or gift!) with a lively text full of rhymes and humour. My mum is a Super Mum, the best I’ve ever known.She loves her trackies and her uggs, her coffee and…

  • Clutterbugs – Maura Pierlot & Maya Bora

    Big Ideas Press January 2025 ISBN: 9780645099829 RRP: $27.99 Maura Pierlot Gifts Us with Clutterbugs Ok, so we’ve never had quite this much mess to clear up but there were plenty of times when my girls were little that I would have welcomed a troop of clutterbugs to help out! Now we live in such…

  • Maisy Big, Maisy Small: a book of rhyming opposites – Lucy Cousins

    Walker Books Australia January 2025 ISBN: 9781529514209 ISBN-10: 1529514207 RRP: $24.99 Of one thing we can be certain, and that is, Maisy never loses her appeal for little (and even bigger) Smalls! This is an updated version of one of Lucy Cousins’ most popular concept books featuring one of our favourite mouse characters. With big, bold colours…

  • Jingle Belly – Jacinta Froud. Illustrated by Gabriella Petruso.

    Distributed by Simon & Schuster Imprint: Larrikin House 2021 I know it’s not ‘new’ but it’s new to me. I hadn’t seen it previously and, very kindly, author Jacinta Froud sent me this copy (as well as a couple of others which I’ll post after my Xmas/NY break). Pets are notorious for their creating a…

  • When Santa Got Stuck in a Gum Tree – Jackie Hosking. Nathaniel Eckstrom.

    Walker Books Australia September 2024 ISBN13:9781760657406 Australia RRP:$24.99 New Zealand RRP:$27.99 What if? always such a good provocation for writing … Plenty of children have wondered what if Santa got stuck in a chimney, but what if he got stuck in a gum tree? Well, how could he be rescued? This could be the start…

  • The Hullabaloo about Elephant Poo – Dee White. Illustrated by Christopher Nielsen.

    Harper Collins Australia December 2024 To finish off this year’s Picture Book month – ta dah!!! I’ve been waiting and waiting to share this one and I was really hoping that the notes I wrote for it would be already up in their published format [fingers crossed they might be before this goes live] Because…

  • The Bug Book – Tania Ingram. Illustrated by Lucinda Gifford.

    Affirm Press Imprint: Little Book Press October 2024 ISBN 9781923141155 RRP: $24.99 If this isn’t the cutest introduction to the world of mini-beasts!!! When Tania had talked about this one during its inception, I knew it was going to be fun but I had no clue that it was going to be as adorable as…

  • Dog Beach – Julie Murphy. Illustrated by Annie White

    New South Books NLA Publishing November 2024 9781922507709/ AUD$24.99, NZD$29.99 What a happy and full-of-warmth book this is! We know to expect entertaining animal stories from Julie Murphy, and we also know we can count on some information as well. This one does not disappoint. With some lovely rhyming descriptors of the many and varied dogs…

  • Too Scared to Sleep – Shaun Micallef. Illustrated by Jonathan Bentley.

    Hardie Grant Australia September 2024 Imprint: Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing ISBN:9781761213090 Price: AU$24.99, NZ$27.99 And I’ve saved the best till last for this Halloween. Now, I’ll be truthful. Most times, when I see a ‘celebrity’ name on a new book cover, I inwardly cringe because frankly, there are some celebrities who should just stick to…